The Oriental Casebook of Sherlock Holmes

Nine Adventures from the Lost Years

By: Ted Riccardi

Narrated by: Simon Prebble

Sherlock Holmes is dead--or so most of the world thinks. His fatal plunge over the Reichenbach Falls as he struggled with his archenemy, Moriarty, has been widely reported. But Holmes has escaped and is alive. In his immediate circle, only Holmes's brother, the lethargic genius Mycroft, knows of his survival. Even Dr. Watson thinks that the great detective is dead. Among his enemies, Sebastian Moran, Moriarty's chief henchman, knows of Holmes's probable escape and waits for their inevitable meeting. From 1891 to 1894, Holmes wanders through Asia. He is alone, without Watson, without Scotland Yard, armed only with his physical strength and endurance and his revered cold logic and rationality. The adventures recounted in The Oriental Casebook of Sherlock Holmes range from Lhasa to Katmandu, from the East Indies to the deserts of Rajasthan. In Tibet and throughout the Orient, Holmes is caught up in the diplomatic machinations of British imperialism that Rudyard Kipling dubbed "the Great Game." He confronts the tsarist agent Dorjiloff, the great art thief Anton Furer, and the mysterious Captain Fantôme. And here, written in Holmes's own words, is the account of "The Giant Rat of Sumatra," for which until now he so famously thought the world unprepared. For Holmes's fans throughout the world, the stories in The Oriental Casebook of Sherlock Holmes fill in an enigmatic gap, the cause of so much speculation in the great detective's career.

©2011 Ted Riccardi (P)2011 AudioGo

Very entertaining

This was excellent overall. The plots and performances were entertaining. I began to look forward to my commutes, and that says a lot.

Loved it!

I thought the stories were detailed and cleverly written and helped to round out the Sherlock Holmes character. There were a few minor discrepancies, but they didn’t matter. The narration was also perfect. The book made me want to visit the places that the author spoke about.

A great listen, and a rather unique take on an unexplored chapter of Sherlock Holmes’ adventures.

Here, we get several good short stories (and several mediocre ones) all having the common thread of taking place during the “lost years” of the Doyle Canon—the years 1891 through 1894, between Holmes’ apparent “death” at the Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland, detailed in Doyle’s cynically named “The Final Problem,” and his reappearance in London in “the Adventure of the Empty House.” In that adventure, when questioned by Watson as to where he had been, Holmes only says, cryptically that he “spent several years in Tibet,” under the name Sigursen. Here, to my delight, and no doubt to the delight of many Holmesians and Sherlockians the world over, Riccardi finally gives us the details of that pulse-pounding adventure, amid several others, including—finally!—“The Giant Rat of Sumatra,” at the end of which, readers finally understand why Watson dubs it “a tale for which the world is not ready….”

As I said, not all of the stories are stellar, but the two mentioned above more than make up for those, and (in the Audio version) Simon Prebble’s superb narration makes even the dull stories listenable. A good read for Holmes fans, “The Oriental Casebook of Sherlock Holmes attempts to answer many questions about which we have long wondered. I would not recommend this book for beginning readers of Holmes—Always start with Doyle’s original stories, and there are better pastiches out there (I cannot recommend the works of both Laurie R. King and Larry Millett highly enough. Go read them!)—but this is a refreshing offering if you already know the Holmes Canon, and are looking for something different than the standard “Victorian-Era-England” fare.

Fun Adventures

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes. I thought these stories were fun and entertaining. I never solved any of the puzzles before the answers were revealed, so I was pretty entertained. I'm not sure that this would appeal to diehard fans who prefer a more orthodox style. The audiobook The House of Silk did a better job of following the more Sir Arthur Conan Doyle style. However, I think the author did a good job with these stories, and I would recommend people who like mysteries to read and enjoy it.

one of the best books I've ever read

totally love this book!! the stories were intrigued and the narrator kept my interest throughout the whole book.